Updated February 27, 2015 with an additional image. Click on the images to open them in a lightbox for better viewing. Please note that if you are viewing this site on a mobile device, you must switch to the full desktop version in order to have the lightboxes open.

A few years ago, I wrote one of my first blog posts on the creepy abandoned Sunny Acres juvenile detention facility located here in San Luis Obispo, California. This ‘asylum’ (as it is known) lurks high upon a hill above the former San Luis Obispo County General Hospital, affording a view of the city that some say is unparalleled. It has a very dark history and has reinvented itself several times from orphanage to juvenile offender detention facility. Some old-timers even claim it was a TB sanatorium for a brief time. For more information, refer to my original post The Abandoned Historic Sunny Acres Detention Facility.

Boarded up for nearly 40 years, this two-story brick building – known for its exquisite Romanesque architecture – looks quite ominous, haunted and gothic. It is owned by the cash-strapped county of San Luis Obispo, although located within city limits. The county, city and local residents have advocated for preserving the building, but it is nearing collapse and is very hazardous due to the heavy presence of asbestos and lead. In addition, vandalism and neglect have taken their toll.

After Night Falls

During an outing with a good photographer friend we decided to shoot the ‘asylum’ at night, in hopes of getting a nice Milky Way shot over the building. The weather conditions seemed ripe, as there was a new moon and the skies were dark and clear. (Well, at least they were when we headed out.) And photo apps confirmed that the Milky Way would be visible over the building. After arriving onsite we discovered a large fence had been placed around the entire perimeter of the sprawling building, preventing close access, limiting vantage points, and interfering with a clean fenceless shot. Nonetheless, we waited for complete darkness to fall (although it was kind of spooky and cold out there), then used several flashlights to do some light painting on the building and front steps. It was very dark out there and hard to find our footing. Unfortunately, clouds and rainy weather quickly moved in and we only got a few shots in as the rain began to fall. You can see the bank of clouds begin to roll in on the upper left side of the top image.

Shot in the Dark

The second shot above was taken on the abandoned basketball court behind the Sunny Acres building. We headed back there to do some light painting with a green colored flashlight. You can see the bank of clouds begin to roll in on the upper left to center portions of this image. And, if you look hard enough, you can see part of a single shooting star to the left of the basketball backboard (sans hoop), just above the fronds of the palm tree. Also there appear to be three spooky faces in the basketball backboard. And these were not graffiti. This single RAW capture was taken with my Nikon D800 and Tokina 16-28mm f2.8 Pro FX lens. The image was shot at ISO 400 for 30 seconds at f5.6, at 24mm. It was processed entirely in Lightroom.

The top shot of the front of the building was comprised of a single RAW capture taken with my Nikon D800 and Tokina 16-28mm f2.8 Pro FX lens. It was light painted with several different colored flashlights and shot at ISO 400 for 30 seconds at f5.6, at 16mm, and processed in Lightroom and Photoshop. We plan to return in the future when better weather conditions prevail. Extra: There is a rather spooky Easter Egg located within the top photograph of the building. If you can find it, you are very perceptive and perhaps a fan of the paranormal!

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